“In 1995 the European Court of Auditors, the accountants who vet the EU’s financial statements, refused to approve the annual accounts because they contained too many errors and too much evidence of misspending. In 1996 the Court once more refused to approve the accounts without qualification. And in 1997. And every year since then. And it happened again this week, for an 18th successive year. Fortunately, nobody other than the auditors pays much attention to the EU accounts. Even if they did they would be reassured to see that only a little over €5bn a year goes to waste. That’s a loss of less than 4%.”